Fine-Grained Data Reorganization in Tiered Storage Architectures

1. A method for organizing data at levels of granularity larger or smaller than an extent, the method comprising: providing a tiered storage system comprising a plurality of tiers, wherein the tiered storage system is configured to move data between the tiers at the granularity of an extent; providing a host system to access data in the tiered storage system; storing a file in an extent of the plurality of extents, the file having a logical address associated therewith, wherein movement of the file within an extent changes the logical address, but movement of an extent between tiers of the tiered storage system does not change the logical address; closing the file on the host system; upon closing the file, generating, by the host system, a message indicating that the file has been closed and identifying an old logical address associated with the file; sending the message to the tiered storage system; verifying, by the tiered storage system, that the file has been closed; in the event the file has been closed, copying the file from the old logical address to a new logical address to improve data placement; and returning, by the tiered storage system, the new logical address to the host system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending, by the host system to the tiered storage system, a message to delete the file located at the old logical address.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising deleting, by the tiered storage system, the file located at the old logical address and resetting a “temperature” for space occupied by the deleted file.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical address associated with the file identifies a relative location of the file within an extent.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the message comprises sending the message through an “in-band” communication channel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein copying the file from the old logical address to the new logical address further comprises copying a “temperature” associated with the old logical address to the new logical address.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein copying the file comprises copying the file to an extent comprising other files of similar “temperature”.

8. A computer program product for organizing data at levels of granularity larger or smaller than an extent, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied therein, the computer-usable program code comprising: computer-usable program code to manage a tiered storage system comprising a plurality of tiers, wherein the tiered storage system is configured to move data between the tiers at the granularity of an extent; computer-usable program code to enable a host system to access data in the tiered storage system; computer-usable program code to store a file in an extent of the plurality of extents, the file having a logical address associated therewith, wherein movement of the file within an extent changes the logical address, but movement of an extent between tiers of the tiered storage system does not change the logical address; computer-usable program code to close the file on the host system; computer-usable program code to, upon closing the file, generate, at the host system, a message indicating that the file has been closed and identifying an old logical address associated with the file; computer-usable program code to send the message to the tiered storage system; computer-usable program code to verify, at the tiered storage system, that the file has been closed; computer-usable program code to, in the event the file has been closed, copy the file from the old logical address to a new logical address to improve data placement; and computer-usable program code to return the new logical address to the host system.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising computer-usable program code to send, from the host system to the tiered storage system, a message to delete the file located at the old logical address.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , further comprising computer-usable program code to delete, at the tiered storage system, the file located at the old logical address and reset a “temperature” for space occupied by the deleted file.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the logical address associated with the file identifies a relative location of the file within an extent.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein sending the message comprises sending the message through an “in-band” communication channel.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein copying the file from the old logical address to the new logical address further comprises copying a “temperature” associated with the old logical address to the new logical address.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein copying the file comprises copying the file to an extent comprising other files of similar “temperature”.

15. A system for organizing data at levels of granularity larger or smaller than an extent, the system comprising: a tiered storage system comprising a plurality of tiers, wherein the tiered storage system is configured to move data between the tiers at the granularity of an extent; a host system to access data in the tiered storage system; a file stored in an extent of the plurality of extents, the file having a logical address associated therewith, wherein movement of the file within an extent changes the logical address, but movement of an extent between tiers of the tiered storage system does not change the logical address; the host system further configured to close the file; the host system further configured to, upon closing the file, generate a message indicating that the file has been closed and identifying an old logical address associated with the file; the host system further configured to send the message to the tiered storage system; the tiered storage system configured to verify that the file has been closed; the tiered storage system further configured to, in the event the file has been closed, copy the file from the old logical address to a new logical address to improve data placement; and the tiered storage system further configured to return the new logical address to the host system.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the host system is configured to send, to the tiered storage system, a message to delete the file located at the old logical address.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the tiered storage system is configured to delete the file located at the old logical address and reset a “temperature” for space occupied by the deleted file.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the logical address associated with the file identifies a relative location of the file within an extent.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the host system is configured to send the message through an “in-band” communication channel.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the tiered storage system is configured to copy the file to an extent comprising other files of similar “temperature”.